Dark Future
by Triaxx2
Summary: Thirty years after the destruction of the Justice League at the end of MI2, the children of the league attempt to change time, and save their parents. But at what cost will it come? COMPLETE.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer:I do not own the Justice League, or it's incombant universe. I do own all orginal characters, any one created by me. Now we begin.

* * *

He came like a plague across the earth, weapons of enormous power sweeping nations under foot, until all who opposed him were decimated, and weak. Where you might ask, was the Justice League? Simple. They were dead. The first thing to occur, was a wave of energy that struck in high orbit, annihilating the watchtower. Every hero aboard was slaughtered. Only a few, who were not there were spared. Even Superman was destroyed. Seven heroes escaped the tower, by not being there. Adam, one of the magicians. Supergirl, on earth with him. Dr. Fate, who was killed later by the overlord. Hawkgirl, Shayera Hol, in the apartment she shared with Green Lantern. He was killed on the tower, as was my older sister, Deidra. Wonder Woman, fighting a battle in South America. Green Arrow, on vacation at the time. Finally, Zatanna, who was captured by the overlord. She was who Fate was trying to save. Her fate remains unknown. The others were all killed by the overlord, or his minions, save Supergirl. Only she survived, by the sacrifice of her husband. She was killed later, by an accident, of all things.

Who am I? Simple. I am Aisha Stewart. Daughter of Green Lantern John Stewart, and Shayera Hol. I live with some others, here in the tower of Doctor Fate, with his wife Inza, our adopted mother. She is ageless, and this tower is hidden by magic with it's roots in the very universe itself. Far too strong for the overlord to break through with just the casual sweeps he conducts. With us, lives Alfred Wayne, son of Bruce and Diana Wayne. Rebecca In-ze, and Ace In-ze, twin children of Kara and Adam Marcae, having taken their mothers original name to hide their own identities. J'nol, son of the Martian Manhunter, spared because he was visiting the Marcae family when the attack occurred, lives here as well. Rianne refuses to take a last name, and calls herself Songbird. She is the daughter of Green Arrow, and Black Canary. Annia West, daughter of Wally West, and his wife, Alexia. The passing of powers was nearly complete. I have my mothers wings, and power to fly. Funnily enough, I have some of my fathers power as well. We aren't sure what it was that happened, but some how, a taste of the powers of the ring was transferred to me. I can generate a sustaining bubble, to survive in a full vacuum, and the protective force field characteristic of the Lanterns. A pity they were all slaughtered, when the overlord's ally annihilated Oa. Alfred has his mothers enormous strength, and his fathers personality, making him a joy to deal with. Rebecca and Ace share the powers of their parents. Both have the strength and ability to fly from their mother, as well as her speed. Rebecca shares her near invulnerability, and weakness to Kryptonite. Ace is vulnerable, but enjoys his fathers immunity to Kryptonite. Each holds part of the powers of their father. Both are capable of magic, though alone, they are weak. Together, they are stronger than their father. Or so Inza tells us. J'nol's powers are identical to his fathers, though he shares a psychic link with us that we cannot explain. Songbird has her fathers sense of humor, and her mothers sonic power. She seems to have my father's temper however. The meerest mention of her parents sends her into a rage. Annia is a quiet person, the only one in the tower. Her speed is as great as that of her father, and mother, though she dis-dains to use it. Her intelligence is incredible, though I can only guess how she manages it, unless she speed reads when no one is looking. No matter.

Now, I know, that you're wondering who this overlord I've mentioned is. I'll tell you, all that I know. His name is Akati, or at least that's what he's called, I don't know his real name, nor does any one else. He came to power, with the aid of what the twins father called, the Black Lance. It is not considered possible that Akati is human, though it was not thought possible that the Watch Tower, and the Justice League could be wiped out. The Black Lance itself was considered to be only a rumor. It is not. I must go now, Inza is calling me.

Aisha Stewart, Keeper of the Light, July 4, 30 ADJL. (After the Death of the Justice League)


	2. Beginnings

HawkAngel XD:I will.

Tiger eyes: Thank you. As for Alexia, this is actually the sixth in a series, that while it started with Birdhunting, takes place chronologically in the order 'Of Magician's and Madmen, Birdhunting, Ladies night out, Mirror Images, and Mirror Images 2'. Alexia was introduced in LNO. She's the result of a Russian attempt to duplicate Flash. Her brother also drank the formula, but only she could control it. Flash was the only being fast enough to catch her brother, and stop him. He was cured, but she decided to stick around.

Oneredneckgoddess: I hoped you'd like that. Don't worry, I don't intend on leaving them dead.

WWLAOS: Don't worry about it dude. It's not as bad as it sounds.

* * *

:Children, come to the Study, there is something you need to see.: The voice rang in my mind with a certainty of exactly where she meant. I rose from my seat, wings folding under my arms around my chest. Though my outfit is more casual than mothers, was I still feel embarrassed in the presence of others, even though those around me know me better than anyone else. The dark locks of hair on my head, kept cut short, still manage to find their way into my face. I can remember mother telling me I would be beautiful. Being half-thangarian, means I remember everything, no matter my age. My heels clack on the floor as I walk the long hall from my room. I know that the twins, and J'nol enjoy flying within the tower, but it reminds me of my parents far too much. Songbird falls into line behind me, coming from the training hall no doubt. She has made it her personal goal to become a better archer than her father. I think it simply brings her closer to him in her own mind. The costume she wears is a monotone green, darker than her fathers, with heavy pants, and shorter heeled boots. The bow slung over her back cross ways from her quiver always chills me. Why she does it, I do not know and fear to ask. I can feel the mace hanging from my belt, mother's, banging off my leg. My costume is less aero dynamic than mothers, but covers more. Similar to shorts and T-shirt, molded to my form. I get a certain amount of teasing about that, but it's all in good fun. We reach the door, just as Alfred does, and he holds it open for us, in one of his shows of perfect manners. He wears a suit similar to his fathers, though, like his mother, without the cape. He doesn't need it to be scary, he's bad enough as it is. The emblem on his chest however, is Dr. Fate's ankh. Annia is waiting, wearing the lightning and stars costume, of her own design. Her form makes all of us jealous, the combination of a runners form, and the toned muscles of a supermodel, with a figure to match. J'nol enters behind her, coming straight through the wall. His form is the same as that of his father, though the face is different, exactly how, I do not know. Just that it is.

"Sorry we're late." Ace voices as he entered the door, followed by his sister. She is wearing an outfit identical to the one her mother wore, except the symbol on her ample chest is the seven spikes of her fathers house, with the S, and Ankh in the center. Ace wore the same symboless costume his father had worn, the blue t-shirt, jeans, and gloves. He also wore a denim jacket, over the top, this held the three symbols. The S on the left side, the Spikes on the back, and the ankh on the right. Both held that same, effortless muscular quality of their mother, and the ageless eyes from their father. Four blue orbs, staring intently at everything around them. J'nols green eyes do the same though not with the same intensity, but instead a sad, detached look. Annia's eyes are white, except for two concentric rings of black where the inner and outer edges of the iris should have been. Songbirds are black, a color not usually associated with eye colors. Mine? I have one green, one brown. Funny thing is, they seem to switch back and forth at will. I've been looking into the mirror when it happened and man, is it creepy. Inza enters from the rear door. The frame glows as she passes. It is one location we cannot go in the tower. She alone can pass the barrier, that seals the room from the tower. Thus, we are incredibly surprised when another passes through. Shorter, with long pointed ears, and white flowing hair, he floats through, triggering the frame. Ace's eyes narrow.

"It is alright my boy." Inza smiles. "This is Puk. A messenger, from the Island of Avalon. Introduce yourself if you please."

"I am Puk, child of Oberon, and his messenger on earth. I have brought a message. Obviously." He bowed low. Inza sighed.

"Show them if you please." She asked.

"But of course." He smiled, and pulled a white orb, similar to a snow globe and set it on the table. He muttered a few words, and light flickered upwards around them. The found themselves staring into Adam's face. He smiled.

"I greet you my children, and the successors to the legacy of the Justice League. I record this message without the approval of the rest of the remains of the league, because they would have you forget us. I cannot stand by and allow that to happen. Thus I give you this choice. Remain as you are, and live your lives as best you can under Akati's yoke, or help us, and change your fate." He took a breath. "If you decide to remain as you are, I cannot fault you for your choice. I beg only your forgiveness for dying. If you decide to change your destiny, then listen well." He paused again.

"I cannot for sure say who Akati is, that is why I travel to the island of Avalon, to ask to use it's eye, the massively powerful seeing globe, to attempt to find out the name. Puk, whom will have delivered this message, will know if I have succeeded. No matter the outcome, there is one possible way in which to defeat this threat. To stop him, you must go into the past, and seek out the Black Lance. Guard it from him, and stop him there. When he is defeated there, time will correct itself. Do not attempt to destroy the Black Lance itself. It is not possible. The only way into the past, lies with the sorceress Zatanna. She is your only hope. I must go, if I hope to reach the isle, before Akati reaches me. Fare well my children, and heirs to the power." He vanished in a shimmer of light. Puk returned the orb to his jacket, and settled into a chair that had not been there a moment before.

"He did reach the island, and the Lord and Lady gave him permission to stare into the eye." Puk chuckled nervously. "He didn't find out the name he was looking for, but did forsee two things. First, that if you do indeed find Zatanna, that one of you will not be able to return to the past. Second, that if the past is changed, one of you will never exist. The former concerned him not, because the fallen one would never have fallen once the change was finished. The latter however, did. The reasoning is simple. That means something else terrible was going to happen, and he didn't want to think about it." Puk stopped for a breath. "I give you warnings however. First, Akati's palace is guarded by powerful creatures, some formed of science, and some of magic. And then there are a few of both, and a few of neither. One thing all share, is that they are dangerous."

"We did not yet give our answer as to whether we would go." J'nol replied. Puk glared at him.

"I'm not finished." He shook his head. "Second, Zatanna's power will not be what it once was, and she will be closely guarded. Third, if Akati is near when you speak to Zatanna, he will know. Finally, he has shown but one weakness, and that is the sound of magic. Adam knew it, and tried to use it to kill him when he detonated. Akati was protected by the Lance. The one thing you can use against the Lance, is that it can not affect you physically. I have to leave now, before Akati traces me here, and puts you all in danger. We will meet again." There was a flare of brilliant white light, and he was gone.

"We didn't say yes." Rebecca noted pointedly. Ace stared at her for a moment.

"We also didn't say no." He replied.

"I suggest we take a step back, and think about it a bit, before answering. If we are to do this, we must be sure of what we are doing, and be sure of the consequences that could come of it." Alfred grunted. "Otherwise we might falter in the middle of the fight, and we'll be killed, and there will be no one left to take up the fight." From her chair, Inza smiled widely.

"An excellent suggestion." She spoke up, cutting off a tempermental reply that was about to burst from Songbird. Annia nodded.

"I agree. We must be sure." With that, she rose, and left the room. J'nol did so as well, passing back through the wall. Songbird walked out, closing the door quietly behind herself. Alfred moved away to the corner of the room opposite both doors, and settled into a chair. Ace and Rebecca leave, each going in different directions. I move away as well, smiling at Inza. She smiles back, rising slowly, and moving through the door to her room again. The frame glows once more.


	3. Thoughts and Decisions

HawkAngel, Oneredneckgoddess: Thank you. I encountered writers block right through the middle of this story, so it took forever.

WWLAOS: It's supposed to be a bit confusing, but Puk is on our side. He was just playing messenger.

* * *

The air is chill in the cellar below the tower. This is one place in the tower, that I alone walk. It was my mother's favorite place in the tower, cool and dark, and yet at the same time, so open, that she could spread her wings if she felt the need. This is why I am here. I've mentioned that I don't like to fly because it reminds me of her. Down here, it's almost as if I am flying with her. There is a swirl of dust as I sweep open my wings, and lunge into the air. In the silence, only the rush of air can be heard around me, carrying me away from this place, even as a piece of my mind keeps me from crashing into anything. I can see her flying beside me, a tear in her eye. After father and Deidra were killed on the tower, she almost always had that tear there. I listen carefully, over the sound of the air, and under sound of my heart, trying to decide what she would tell me. As if I already know what she would say, I can hear it.

"Do what you feel you must, because no one else can choose for you. Could I do it in your stead, I would, but I cannot. Only you can choose, to go or stay. I came when I was needed, will you?"

Songbird stalked along the hall, bow in hand, fingers in a crushing grip, knuckles white, threatening to snap the bow. Though outwardly she was simply angry, inside, she wondered why she reacted this way to the memory of her parents, and those other fools in the league. Perhaps, she admitted, it was because she considered them responsible for the death of her parents. If after all, they had not forced her father into the league, she would not be alive, but he would be. Or perhaps he simply would have been killed as he was, defending another, instead of herself. She could still remember the day the Knights had come. Akati's steel sentinels of death. Each group was lead by one more powerful than the rest, wielding a long silver plated scythe, and wrapped in a black robe, as if it was death itself. Her father had fought hard, destroying the six accompanying sentinels, until only the Death Knight remained. A single stroke of the Scythe blade, severed his bowstring, and his throat. Tears formed in her eyes, as she lifted the bow, and aimed for the target. The shot snapped out, impacted, punching through the steel target, and then exploded, sending shrapnel flying back at her. She hissed, and a sound wave burst them into a fine powder. She sighed, as she wrapped a cut across the back of her hand with a blue scarf from her pocket.

J'nol stood at the top of the tower, on the Balcony, still covered by it's protective magic, it was the one place, that he could look out, and see the rest of the world, no matter how ravaged the Overlord made it, he could still see the beauty of the world he had known before it's decimation. He had already decided to go, no matter what the other's did, and if he failed, at least he'd die knowing he'd tried. It was what his father would have done, and it was something he had to do. The air was cool, that of a summer night, and he reveled in it's feel across his skin. Soon, he would leave the tower, alone, or with the others, he did not know. He knew only that he would miss this, almost as much as Inza.

Ace found himself in the Library, as he often did, and he rose into the air, smoothly gaining height as he reached for one of the magical books on the shelf. It was one he visited often, a tome on contacting the dead. He had not told anyone about it, because he did not want to. It was his secret, and his alone. He didn't have the power to produce any of the spells in the book, and though he knew that Rebecca could help him, he didn't want to share it. He settled to the shelf beside the book, and opened it, revealing inside, a photograph he'd found in the tower. In it, stood the entire Justice League. The picture was holographic, so each line could be revealed, by tilting the photograph. He stopped on the third row, floating up above the rest. There, stood his parents, each with an arm around the others shoulders, beside Clark and Diana, as well as J'nol's father, J'onn. He knew that the others would like to see it, but like the book, he couldn't bring himself to show it to them. His father's words rang in his mind, as he sat there, looking at the photo. 'I beg your forgiveness for dying.' Why should he have to beg? Why not Akati? All at once, he decided. He returned the book to it's place, and tucked the photo into his jacket. He would make Akati beg. He pushed off, and dropped soundlessly to the floor.

Rebecca settled to her bed, watching the weather out the window, she swallowed hard, and reached under her pillow, for the weapon that she kept under there. Long and sharp, the knife was forged of magic, and one of the few things capable of penetrating her invulnerable skin. Exactly why she did what she did, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was the feeling of the blade, slicing at the skin, or the smell of the blood flowing from her arm. She wasn't really sure she wanted to know. Though the blood flows, the wounds heal over, almost instantly, without leaving a scar. She is unsure whether that is from her father, or mother, or both, but she is glad for it. There is no trace of the cut, except the few drops of blood, which she wipes from her arm, with a towel, the same color as the blood. Magic she's found, can remove even blood, though she has to wait until Ace is asleep. Leaning back, after replacing the knife, she thought about her mother, the little of her she could remember and started to cry, as the realization that she was loosing that little bit of memory, swept over her. She was still crying, an hour later, when sleep over took her.


	4. Out into the World

WWLAOS: Those both play out a bit further in, but I don't want to say too much.

Oneredneckgoddess: Compliment? I'm going to take it as one. Thank you.

* * *

"I will go, and do my best to recover Zatanna. If you will not help me, I will go alone." J'nol announced the next morning at breakfast.

"Don't be silly, of course I'm going." I spoke up. It wasn't like I had a choice. "You'd all get lost without my guidance." I grinned trying to look puffed up, and important.

"Shhh Aisha. We're perfectly capable of getting lost, even with your help." Ace chuckled. "Songbird?"

"I can't stop you, so I might as well go along." She answered. In one of her rare moments, Annia spoke.

"It would appear that I must follow that you do not destroy yourselves, foolishly rushing in, where you cannot get out." She snapped her mouth shut, and returned to eating.

"You're all going to die you know." Rebecca snapped, pushing away from the table. "Just like they did, and then you'll leave Inza alone. I won't go, I won't do that to her."

"I know what you're afraid of, but we aren't going to die." Ace replied, reaching to put a hand on her shoulder. She jerked away as she stood.

"You don't know that, and didn't you hear him last night? He said one of us wouldn't make it to the past." Rebecca snapped.

"Oh, right." Ace replied.

"Fine, stay home, we'll go without you, and you can be the one that doesn't make it." I shrugged, doing my best to end the argument. It didn't work as well as I'd hoped.

"But we can't leave her behind. I don't know if we can do it without her." Ace replied.

"I agree. If she does not go, you are all placed in danger." Inza spoke up from the head of the table. Rebecca, I understand your concerns, but you must think of your parents. What would they do?" She asked. Rebecca looked at the floor.

"I don't know. But I doubt they'd foolishly rush in, without knowing what they were up against." She answered after a moment.

"She is at least right in part." Alfred answered with a slight smile.

"Your father maybe. I know my parents would probably not have stopped to eat breakfast." I answered with a slight smile. "Mom at least. Dad was a marine, so he might have waited to eat first."

"No, he would have charged in regardless of the danger." Inza replied. "As would your mother." She nodded at Ace and Rebecca. "And your father." She offered to Songbird.

"And our father?" Ace asked.

"And my mother?" Songbird inquired.

"Would have both waited for a few moments, pretending to plan, and then charged in head long, usually to help the other parent." Inza smiled.

"Do you really think I'll be useful on the way?" Rebecca nodded.

We all nodded. "Of course you will." I answered. "Besides, Ace is useless without you." Ace almost replied to that, but cut it off seeing the laugh on his sisters face.

"Alright, I'll go." She answered after a moment.

"Excellent. Eat breakfast." Inza smiled slightly, not betraying an ill feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had always had the same feeling whenever Kent went into battle as Doctor Fate, and she'd never revealed it to him either. Only two people had ever figured it out. J'onn, and Adam. The former was not a surprise, he was too astute not to notice something about her. The latter was unexpected. He'd arrived to speak with her, because he and Fate did not get along, and had done so just after the other had left. It seemed he'd been able to sense the difference in her. Each had given advice. J'onn that Fate was competent, and sure of himself, so much that he could not fail. Adam had simply said that Fate wouldn't let himself lose, so she had nothing to worry about. Neither of them had been particularly comforting alone, but together, they made her feel better. Now she had no such assurances.

It was over an hour later, when they were ready to go. Ace was carrying a briefcase. Rebecca was carrying a dark blue backpack, that she slung over her shoulders. J'nol had packed light, and was carrying nothing except the clothes on his back. Alfred was in his full suit, and had his mother's lasso hung from his belt. Annia appeared carrying a small silver object that she hid as she slowed. Songbird was the only other one carrying a weapon, the bow polished to a shine. I could see arrows over her shoulder, and knew she was ready for a fight. It was the only time we'd ever seen her carry a weapon. Normally she was very sensitive about it. Inza smiled from the doorway of the tower, refusing to step outside it's powerful protections. The reason she had never left the tower in the time we had grown and lived, was because the protections of the tower kept Akati from finding and killing them. The protections also hid Inza's own powers from Akati. Should she leave the tower, he would feel it, and destroy it. Even the deeply rooted protections of the tower could not stop the weapons he had placed in orbit. They would fail under the onslaught.

I waved to her as she smiled at us. Spreading my wings in the open air, I had a peculiar feeling, that I would never return here. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, and I swept into the air to leave it behind. J'nol rose skywards, with Ace and Rebecca following, each carrying Alfred and Songbird. Annia followed us through the ruins of Salem along the ground. I had never seen her move as fast as she did then, dodging rubble and ruins. Though the sentinel robots had removed the bodies, and reprocessed them long ago, the stench of death, and corruption still hung over the city. On the far side of town, where we found the mono rail track Akati had ordered built. Sitting on the rail was a silent silver bullet shaped vehicle, operated by an automated robot. The station was used by the workers who tended the nearby fields. It was as we landed, and Annia slowed and stopped beside us, that we heard the firing alarm. We had not heard it since the last of the resistance was destroyed in the city, but we knew exactly where this one was aimed. The purple/blue energy beam struck down from above, obliterating Fate's tower in a single, decisive stroke that signalled the end of the remains of the Justice League. Ace stopped Rebecca from trying to rush back, as Alfred did Annia. There was nothing but our own deaths to be gained from returning to the site that would soon be covered in sentinels and Death knights. I smashed the control robot with my mace to relieve my own anger at the destruction of my home, and the death of my surrogate mother. I knew that it wasn't enough to relieve the full pain that would soon hit me, but I new there was nothing else to do. It staved off the pain for the moment, and as I ushered the others rapidly onto the bullet car, I shed a tear for my mother's.

Riding along the monorail track, the hum of the mag lev propulsion the only noise aside from Rebecca's sobs, I vowed at that moment, that I would do everything I could to make Akati pay for killing my parents. Even if it brought my death. Adam had said that one of us would not see the past. In that moment, I decided that it would be me. But Akati would die with me. Even if the other's failed in the past, Akati would die in the future. Perhaps those that survived would find some solace in that. I knew I wouldn't. Ever.


	5. Seeking

Oneredneckgoddess: I didn't originally intend to kill her off, but after the thing with Rebecca, I had to. It would have caused problems otherwise.

WWLAOS: It was an automated weapon, that sensed the change in the tower's energy signature. As for the Monorail, it's entirely automated, so as long as you're alive, it'll let you on. It's one of the minor shortcuts I take to avoid travel problems. Yeah, Rebecca was, but it was filler, since the chapter was too small otherwise.

* * *

"Excuse me."

"No, pardon me."

"Apologies, it was all my fault. Let me help you."

None of it was what I expected to find in the city. New york was cheerful, even joyous. Though the streets were not as crowded as shown in the old documentaries Fate had left lying around in his tower, the streets still buzzed with life. With my wings wrapped around my torso, covered in a long overcoat, hair left loose to cover the slight points to my ears, I found it strange to know that a cruel dictator had brought to humanity the one thing it had long sought. Peace. Though it fit that he could be the one being to do it. Beside me came J'nol, having taken an amalgamation of a human identity, moving carefully so as not to bump into anyone. We did not yet wish to attract attention. Ace and Rebecca were on the far side of the street, moving just as carefully. I could see she was nervous, but could do nothing about it. Walking along like this had been Alfred's idea, hoping that maybe we could catch something about Akati. No one around us even seemed aware of him. Just as I was about to give up on finding anything, I saw someone down an alley being beaten by another man. I started to step sideways to intervene, my nature, and the pain of anger urging me into battle, but J'nol placed a restraining hand on my arm. Six sentinels, led as always by a Death Knight came from above, exhaust spraying us as everyone in sight dropped to the ground, covering their heads. We did the same as did Ace and Rebecca on the far side.The Death Knight's right arm lifted and pointed at the attacker. The man attempted to flee, but the hand fired from the Knight's arm, and caught the man by the back of the neck. It drug him screaming closer until a sentinel grabbed him by the arms. I heard the distinct crack of bones breaking as the sentinel's hands closed on the man. He screamed even louder. The sentinel and two others rose into the air, heading west. I saw Ace launch something at one of them, but I couldn't tell what. A moaning from the alley attracted my attention. The victim of the attack was being looked at by the sentinel.

"Target status: Poor. Probability of survival: Low. Resources for recovery: Prohibitive." Was it's report to the Knight.

"Directive: Terminate." The Knight responded.

"Confirmed." The sentinel fired the fatal shot before I could react. It reached down, and lifted the woman's body from the ground and rose into the air, along with remaining two sentinels, and the Death Knight. They headed north. Ace did the same thing as before. This time it was on the Knight, but was not unnoticed. The knight spun around and scanned the crowds. It was appearently unable to determine where what it considered an attack came from, and headed north. After the noise of the exhaust died away, the crowd rose to it's feet, and resumed it's movement as if nothing had happened.

Back at the headquarters we had adopted, which was funnily enough, the office building that many dimensions away housed the Daily Bugle, Alfred unrolled a massive map across a table in the middle of the basement. There were people working above, but J'nol had secured us access, simply by playing with the mind of the CEO of the company. The man had given them unlimited access, without wondering or questioning who they were. He would also defend them to anyone that asked, as integral members of the company, though he'd be unable to tell anyone exactly what they did. Ace called it a slick bit of tampering.

"Alright Ace, show me where they went." Alfred commanded. Ace glared at him, but pointed to the map, leaving a small green glowing mark where his finger touched. As he did so, a hand lifted to his head.

"Does anyone else feel that?" He asked, not specifying what 'that' was.

"A vibration in the back of your mind?" J'nol asked. Ace nodded.

"Now that you mention it..." Rebecca started to speak, then collapsed.

"Becky!" Ace called, and started towards her, before falling himself. J'nol's eyes glowed, then glazed over.

"What's going on?" I asked startled.

"It has to be a mind control signal of somekind. They have the power to affect the minds of others, and have protected themselves from the same." Annia spoke up. "I believe it is resonating in responce to their own powers, and causing the feeling, and the collapses."

"Are we unaffected?" Songbird asked. Annia shrugged.

"I don't know. I don't believe it is a continuous signal, or they'd have felt it before. It should pass, though how long until it does, I do not know." At the instant she said that, the three started to come around.

"My head." Rebecca complained, rubbing it as if it ached. A knock sounded at the door. Rebecca's hand swept sideways, sending the still glowing map rolling up, and under a nearby desk.

"Come in." Songbird called, moving towards the door. It was the CEO that entered.

"The building is closing up shortly, I wanted to offer you use of the company's private apartments atop the Easton Towers." He smiled almost carefree.

"Thank you very much sir. We will not forget your kindness." Songbird replied, inclining her head formally. The man smiled and almost blushed.

"No, no trouble at all." He smiled again, and stepped out, almost tripping over the threshold. The door closed, and Songbird breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was beautiful." Ace complimented.

"Yeah, it was. You get the next one." She replied, dead serious. Ace shook his head.

"Can't, I don't have the figure for it." He grinned. She stared at him levelly.

"Ahem. Can we focus?" Alfred called. I smiled at his attitude.

"Sorry." We apologised since there was nothing else we could do. He had retrieved the map, and spread it out.

"This location is in the middle of the bay, which means a land approach is impossible. The latter is to the north, but there is a lot of open ground leading up to it. That used to be a park, but this map shows it's been leveled for the complex." Alfred looked at us. "We can scout them both tonight, but hitting them at night is probably not optimal. Being robots, they have a natural advantage over us."

"We'll scout the plant in the bay." I replied, indicating myself, Ace, and J'nol. "Rebecca and Annia can investigate the base to the north." Songbird glared at me.

"Who made you leader?" She hissed at me. "Why should you decide who goes where?"

"Stop it." Annia spoke. "Who else has seen real combat?"

It wasn't something I liked to admit, but I had. Early on in my life I had fought with a criminal. I was with my parents at the time, just strolling down the street, and they had swept up into the air to deal with a creature that had appeared from an office building. While they flew away, I was grabbed from behind and drug into an alley. The man wasn't expecting what he got. Unbeknownst to my parent's at the time, I had gained some powers from the lantern ring. It was the only time I was ever able to produce an energy bolt, and it didn't happen on purpose. Already far stronger than he thought from my Thanagarian heritage, I knocked him away, and was trying to run away, when he caught my leg. Panicking I threw my hand out, in desperation. I still see the mangled remains of his face sometimes in my nightmares. A moment later mother found me, and took me away, but I've never forgotten that brief image of death.

"That mean's nothing Annia." I answered. "It was an accident, and I was only ten."

"But it's closer than any of us have ever come." Alfred replied. "Let's vote." The vote was 4-2, with Songbird, and Rebecca against it.

"Fine then. Follow a fool. We're all going to die anyway, so let's do it as fast as possible." Songbird snorted. Why Rebecca was against it, I'm not sure, but I think she still believes she's going to die. There was a knock on the door.

"The building is closing in five minutes. The company limo is outside for you." The door guard called.

"Coming." Ace called. "Ready?" He asked. Six pair of eyes returned his stare.

Standing on the balcony of the highrise beside Alfred and J'nol, I sighed dispassionately. Rain swept the city, just as it had the night before.

"It must be weather control of somekind." Alred reasoned, as if we hadn't deduced it already. "An effective method of keeping the populace inside, without imposing a curfew which would be resented and cause dissent, even through a mind control signal." I had the distinct urge to slap him, but instead I went inside to watch television. In the bottom of my stomach, I was very, very worried, but I knew that they could handle it. Neither J'nol nor I could fly in the rain, though Ace and Rebecca were under no such restriction and Annia was so fast the rain wouldn't even get her wet. They had gone scouting. Ace could cover his own approach, while Rebecca would do the job for Annia. I only hoped they could do it with out getting caught.


	6. A battle of wills

oneredneckgoddess: She was ten when that happened, but between the heritages of being half-thanagarian, and the powers from the ring, she's much stronger than she should be. And I made a small mistake in that. Lantern was supposed to be dead then. Alfred has more of his mother in him, though he's still really smart. Aisha is twenty nine. Ace and Rebecca are twenty-five. Alfred and Songbird are twenty-eight, and so is Annia, and J'nol is the oldest, at fifty.

* * *

The surface of the water was smooth as Ace slid across it. He wasn't moving nearly as fast as he could, which was nearly supersonic. Well past if he used magic to fuel his flight. As it was, he wanted no wake. The water over head didn't bother him, because he could dry out without challenge. The water below was a bit thick for his taste, though he could give himself gills, he didn't want to try it, not this close to an enemy fortress. Landing on the false island was impossible. The walls extended to the very edge of it's steel structure, an sentinels patrolled it. Ace smiled. This was almost too easy. Body temperature was easy enough to hide, and his image? No problem. Simple light bending. The rays passed around him without interruption, though the slight distortion was dead give away to a thinking being. As the robots weren't, he sailed past them, and dropped into the middle of the courtyard. A hundred men stood in the middle of the courtyard, all held in some manner by a sentinel. Ace recognized the man they had captured earlier that day, still held by the same sentinel. He moved weakly in the robot's arms, still moaning in pain. Ace slid through the mass of robots, and through the open archway. Inside the building, were not cells as he had expected, but instead slots in the wall. One seemed to be repairing a broken leg on a young woman. She was wearing no clothes, and was connected to several tubes to take care of her needs, as well as wearing a helmet. Ace didn't need to guess the use of that helmet.

This place wasn't so much a prison, as it was a reprogramming facility. Ace slipped further down the hallways, counting the numbers of slots. It was as he landed at the end of one row, that he discovered something that anywhere, and anywhen else in time or space would have been interesting. Bending light? It didn't work on infrared beams. The entire facility lit up like a roman candle, lights blaring. Dimly as he stumbled for the door, Ace could hear people shouting. As he came into the front courtyard, the closest dozen sentinels turned towards him, raising gun arms. Gunfire pinged over his head, as he dove for the ground, leaving his after image, and heat signature behind him. The sentinels burst into full fire, cutting apart the human guards approaching the doorway. A command rang out, and the robots swung around, gunfire pinging off of each other, and ripping through the now dying prisoners, and some of it catching Ace along the right arm. He swore as blood poured from the wounds. The robot's spun around taking aim on his voice. Still swearing, Ace exploded upwards in a fast decaying trajectory, that carried him just past the wall, and into ocean, where the bullets bounced off, except for a few that caught his left leg. Gills sprouted from his neck, and he raced along under water. He could feel the launch of the robotic sharks, and saw the searchlights over head. One thing to do.

The air lit up with lightning as he broke from the water. Explosions burst from the two sentinels hit by the electrical energy. Ace poured magic out behind him, leaving a long trail which the sentinels picked up as if it were blood to hunting hounds. With a burst of energy Ace lit the energy into flames, annihilating the last of the robots, as he reached shore. As he did so, the two sharks from the water burst into the air, and began to come after him, flying along without losing stride. Ace swore again, something he suddenly found himself doing a lot of, and unleashed jets of flame behind him. The sharks dodged side to side to avoid the blasts. Ace pulled up racing skywards, pushing past Mach, then cut around, and reversed direction. He knew he was going to pay for it later, but a little pain was worth his life. He slammed downwards, so fast that he broke Mach 2, and the sharks impacted his shockwave in mid turn, shattered in a single fatal blow.

Shuddering in pain, Ace turned and headed back to the penthouse.

Annia and Rebecca had a slightly less trying ordeal, as they slipped onto a roof near the Death Knight facility. It was well guarded, both by men and machines and neither of them was really in a mood to pick a fight with the security.

"I can maintain this only for about ten minutes, but you shouldn't have a problem with that, should you?" Rebecca smiled. Annia nodded.

"No big deal." Annia replied. "I have to ask you a question, and I know you aren't going to like it."

"What?" Rebecca asked, figuring that she wanted to know why she had voted against Aisha. She didn't expect Annia to pull the knife from the backpack she was still wearing.

"Why are you using this?" Annia asked, holding it out of Rebecca's reach. Rebecca lunged for it, but Annia was as could be expected, too fast.

"Give it back, it's mine!" Rebecca shouted, lunging again. Annia twisted around, pulling Rebecca over onto her back. In the next instant Annia was on her best friends chest, a knee holding the other down, and the knife at the others throat.

"Answer my question." Annia hissed.

"Get off of me." Rebecca snarled. She started to move, but the first touch of the knife blade froze her. "What does it matter to you?"

"I grew up with you. I want to know." Annia replied utterly calm.

"Because it's my fault." Rebecca replied. Annia said nothing, waiting for elaboration. "I'm the reason my father is dead. I didn't stay out of it when I told. I tried to help. He... he was distracted by me, and he died." Tears were forming in Rebecca's eyes. "I don't deserve to be along. I'm just going to mess up again. I should have used that on myself long ago." There was anger and despair in her eyes and voice, and Annia sighed in disgust. The knife vanished as she threw it away. It wouldn't stop inside the atmosphere. She came to her feet, and pulled Rebecca up.

"Quit bawling. We have a job to do. We all feel bad about our parents, but there is nothing to do except what we were told to do to save them. Hurting yourself won't restore them, and neither will feeling sorry for yourself. I accepted that long ago. Now make with your magic, and let's do it." Rebecca nodded, swallowing hard. Annia noted a tingly feeling across herself as she was engulfed in the magic. "Am I still here?"

"I don't know, I can still see you because I cast the magic." Rebecca replied. "You won't know until you get in there." She sighed.

"Then away I go." Annia grinned, and vanished.

"I don't believe she did that." Rebecca choked, rubbing her throat. "She really pushes my buttons."

Annia moved down the side of the building, shaking her head mentally. Rebecca hadn't gotten over the death of her father. Annia found that a bit odd, since she'd known her mother more, but it wasn't her place to start that fight. She hadn't told anyone before, and she had no intention of doing so now. It would only cause dissention, but she had been watching Rebecca for a long time now, and after the destruction of the tower, she was worried about her. She had acted now, because they were alone, and she could deal with it without involving the others. She felt bad about doing it that way, but because Rebecca was invincible to anything but Kryptonite, or magic, she couldn't easily replace that knife. Accelerating into the compound was not a challenge, as this late at night, only the robots could detect her, and they were blinded by Rebecca's powers, at least, Annia fervently hoped so. As she ripped past a pair of them guarding the entrance, she wasn't shot, or cut down by the wicked scythes they Death Knights carried, so she figured the answer was a yes. Inside she found, that she was not alone, though she was the only living person within the walls. A great stack of bodies lay to the right side of the room, while to the left a dozen sentinel's walked back and forth from a massive furnace, transporting bodies back and forth. Disgusted, Annia broke through the room, keeping an eye on her watch. She had another three minutes, before she was going to head back. Deeper in side, she discovered where the energy generated by the furnace was going.

Before her stood a rack of five hundred Death Knights, standing in recharging ports, as the borg on the old Star Trek show she had seen on TV. Fate had left a few copies lying around his tower. She shuddered at the comparison, realizing just how close it was. She was about to look at her watch, when she saw IT. There wasn't any mistaking the long silver scar across the otherwise dark metal of the Death Knights form. This was the one. Songbird had described the damage to her one time and she remembered it. She swallowed. She turned to run away, and found herself face to face with a sentinel. It was the only one she had seen outside the furnace room, and a glance under it's left shoulder showed they were all there. She swallowed as it raised it's arm, and she knew it had seen her.

It was quick, but it wasn't quite fast enough to take her down, as the fist smashed downwards, she zipped back, and then charged, leaping up, and kicking off it's head, accelerating through a hail of gunfire through the furnace room, as she raced into the courtyard. Two scythes came for her as she bulleted out of the facility. She leapt into the air, and passed cleanly between them, rolling and coming to her feet at full speed. Gun fire echoed behind her as she ripped free of the facility, and up a building nearby. Laying unconscious on top of building was Rebecca, a smooth bump on the back of her head the only evidence of tampering, it didn't make sense though. There was only one access, and Rebecca's back had been to it. It would have taken a high explosive charge to move her from before it, and even then, it would have required massive force, or... magic. Annia zipped away from the balcony with Rebecca as the energy blast lashed down from above them, annihilating two full floors behind her.

"You will never defeat the Lord Akati!" It was a being that had not been seen in over thirty years. Ellie swung silently through the night air, sweeping her right arm up into the air. The roof of the Death Knight command center swung open wide, and the full fleet of Knights rose into the air. "Sweep the city, and find those who would fight the will of our master!" She swung back around as the Knights swept out over the city, heading for the residential quarters first. Ellie smiled grimly. "Soon, there will be blood in the air."


	7. Conversations

WWLAOS: I didn't want to push it to much, I was forcing it as is. Thank you, I enjoyed doing both, even if I couldn't explain Annia's problems at first. But it turned out for the best, because I was able to bring Ellie in. I hadn't been able to figure out how to get her in.

oneredneckgoddess: Thank you. And we are rapidly rising towards the end of the story.

* * *

"We've got problems." Ace and Annia spoke in unison as they arrived. Always the gentleman, he let her go first. 

"Some woman knocked Rebecca out, and almost killed us both." Annia shook her head. "I don't know who it was, but she was firing some really nasty energy blasts at us."

"I got caught by an infrared beam." Ace nodded. "I didn't expect one that far in, and got sloppy. It's not so much a prison out there, as a reprogramming facility. I'd say he's been doing this for a while, the tech is really sophisticated."

"Well, I found the facility that houses the Death Knights. They were burning bodies to fuel the systems that recharge the Knights." Annia reported. She glanced at Songbirds room. "I need to speak with you in private." She told me. I took a shuddering breath, recognizing her tone.

"Alright, in my room. J'nol, will you help Ace?" The other man nodded, and they disappeared into the room Rebecca and I would share. Alfred had already gone to bed, unable to stay awake any longer. I took Annia aside, knowing she was running on fumes. "What is it?"

"Two things. Remember Songbirds father?" I nodded solemnly. "Remember her description of the Death Knight that killed him?" I nodded again, not liking the feeling of where she was going with this. "I saw it." I half-gasped, and flickered my gaze to Songbird's room.

"Where, and when?" I asked. I knew the answers, but had to be sure.

"Tonight in the facility. It was deactivated for recharge, but it wasn't wearing the robes, and I could see the scarring on it. I must have waited too long, because that was when I was spotted, and had to make a run for it." Annia informed me, confirming my worst suspiscion.

"Alright, what ever you do, do NOT, tell Rianne. She'll never leave it alone, and we need her." I instructed. "Now, what was the other thing you wanted to tell me?"

"The woman that attacked us? It was Ellie." I nearly passed out. Fate had left detailed information on not only the clones, but the entire Cadmus project. The information on the clones also provided information on the three most dangerous clones. Ellie, Galatea, and the Adam clone. All three based on some level on Ace and Rebecca's parents. Annia and I had discovered that bit, but kept it from the others. It wasn't a descision made lightly, but Inza had advised us against telling them, for two reasons. First, was that no one had heard from Galatea since the loss of Adam's clone. The second, was that Ellie had vanished shortly after Akati arrived.Galatea was not the kind to switch sides without orders, but Ellie was lacking morals of any kind. She had only the bare beginnings of a conscience. If she had disappeared, chances were she was working for Akati. Tonight proved that. As far as anyone could tell, she was invulnerable with the exception of powerful magic. Between the three of us, we did not think Ace and Rebecca could take her, even working as a single powerful entity.

"That's just wonderful." I sighed, feeling suddenly helpless. "Which mean's in the morning, we're going to have to tell them."

"That's not going to be pleasant." Annia warned me.

"When is anything ever pleasant?" I asked with a slight smile. She new the answer, and we gave it in one voice.

"Never."

* * *

Next morning, 4:45am, EST.

"Master, I have urgent news." Ellie reported to the monitor from one knee.

"Speak." Was all the deep voiced warlord spoke. He was covered in shadows on the far end of the monitor, only his boots, running up to his knees, plated with metal salvaged from the ruins of the watchtower, reflected any light at all.

"Master, they have come. The children you foresaw have come here. I injured one, but I was unable to destroy her, or the other she was with, and I lost track of them. I have failed." The green eyed, brown haired woman informed him, waiting patiently for the punishment she felt she deserved. It did not come.

"You have not failed child. I did not expect you to be able to stay with them. It is of no consequence. I destroyed their parents, and so to shall I crush them." Akati spoke in a casual, almost off hand tone.

"Master please, I have foreseen things. They are more powerful than their parents. I beg you, do not come here. Move back your travel plans and go north. Let me deal with them, that I may present them to you as a gift when you arrive." She begged. Akati smiled.

"You may deal with them, but do so quickly, I enter harbor tonight, and then I tour the city tomorrow." Akati replied. "Enjoy your hunt my child."

"I will master." The monitor blinked off, and she rose, eyes narrowing. She turned to the doors. They opened as she approached. "Sentinels. Take my command to the Death Knights. This city will be swept from top to bottom, from north to south, from east to west, and back again. If the intruders are not found, then we will turn it upside-down and shake it until they fall out. Lord Akati arrives tonight, and we will have them in custody or dead by then. GO." The last word was a command, and the Sentinels saluted, then moved out of her throne room. Settling down, she shifted back in her chair, getting as comfortable as possible, then closed her eyes, and 'stretched out her mind'. She smiled slightly. This would be a much faster method of finding them.

* * *

"Sit down." I invited Songbird, doing my best to be polite. Room service had sent breakfast, and she'd come out long enough to drink something and grab toast, and was about retreat to her room when I caught her.

"I don't feel like it." She started to push past me, and I caught her arm.

"I don't care. Sit down." I don't usually let my temper run free, but at the time, I didn't have the energy to contain it. I hadn't slept well the night before and we were about to tell them somethings they weren't going to like. That was not something I was looking forwards to.

"No." Came Songbirds answer, trying to shake my arm loose. I hit her. It wasn't something I intended to do, but I hit her. She stumbled back, gasping for air. Stoutly built as she was, very few people could handle that kind of hit and not loose their breath. So far, I'd only seen J'nol do it by phasing out. Songbird dropped into a chair, as Ace joined us from the other room. That was everyone. Annia and Ace repeated what they'd said last night, filling in all the blanks for us. I had the distinct feeling that Annia was leaving something out, but it didn't seem to be important. I hoped I wouldn't regret that.

"Alright, the woman that Annia saw, is something that we have been afraid of for a long time." I spoke up after the stories were finished.

"How could you know who she is?" Alfred asked, glaring suspiciously at me.

"We found something in the tower, and it described a set of clones." Annia answered. The others nodded.

"She was in there?" Rebecca asked. Annia looked at me.

"Yes, and no." I answered. "She was listed in there, along with two others. Annia and I discovered this, and after talking with mother, we decided to remove it from sight." The room exploded in protest.

"How could you do that!" Was the general reaction.

"It was decided that for the good of everyone, it shouldn't be known. Ellie, is woman's name. She is described as being a super clone. Created from the DNA of your mother," I pointed at the twins, "your mother," Alfred, "your father," J'nol, "my mother, and some of the powers of my father."

"As well, they used my Father's DNA to give her enourmous speed, but it doesn't approach mine. She does not have the aura that allows her to surpass air resistance. Otherwise she would be virtually unstoppable." Annia cut in before they could start again.

"As far as Fate was able to determine, the only thing that could harm her, was extremely powerful magic. We did not know if you would have the power to take her down, even working together." I snapped at the twins, not intending to, but needing to cut them off. "I still don't know, but it seems as though it's time to find out."

"So who were the other two clones?" Alfred spoke up.

"Galatea. A clone of Kara. Straight clone, though older and stronger." I took a breath. "And a clone of Adam. The clone was far more powerful than anything they'd seen, and took down the everything the league threw at him with ease. It wasn't until Adam returned from the dead that they were able to stop the clone."

"And what happened to the clone?" Ace asked.

"Adam took over his body." I answered, having read the account in Fate's journal. Adam had given it to him shortly after the encounter. "It was the only way he could return to life." I added hastily, quelling the disgusted looks. "The clone was going to die anyway, so he did a favor for Adam."

"And Galatea?" Rebecca asked.

"No one knows. She disappeared shortly after that. Ellie went to live with her father, and disappeared shortly after the arrival of Akati. It appears she has gone to work for him." Annia replied, taking the pressure off of me.

"For him? No. With him." The wall burst inwards.


	8. Flight, then a fight

WWLAOS: Thank you. My chapters don't always come out the way I want them. It did lack some spark, but don't forget about it.

oneredneckgoddess: Wait no longer.

* * *

Those at the table who could fly lunged into the air, while Songbird dove beneath a half-wall separating the dining room from the living room. Alfred charged the woman floating in air, leaping from the balcony. Fist drawn back, he smashed into her face as he flew. As if he had impacted a solid wall, she held immovable, and grabbed his fist as he started to fall. 

"You don't have the power to injure me." The ring on her other hand glowed, and she fired, pitching him back against the far wall. J'nol caught him as he fell from it, coughing from the plaster dust, and pain. Two sentinels, one on either side of Ellie fired hands into the room, one aiming for Annia, the other for Rebecca. Annia dodged the hand and led it on a chase until it tied itself up. I landed and grabbed the cable, and laid my mace against it. The silver stud depressed, energy shot through the cable, and an explosion signalled the death of the Death Knight. The cable went taut as I let it go, and the Knight crashed agains the building, exploding again.

At the same time, Rebecca had let the hand grab her, and then unleashed lightning back down the cable. The Knight exploded. The hand released as the Knight fell. Ellie laughed. "Don't worry, I have more."

"How many more can you have?" Ace asked cockily. A moment later, I was sincerely wishing he hadn't done that. The roof was torn off revealing that she had not only brought all five hundred Death Knights, but also what looked to be every Sentinel in the city. "Oh, that many more."

"I think a retreat is in order." Alfred offered.

"I agree." Songbird noted, and drew back her bow. An arrow arced up, and exploded in a flare of light and heat. As it did so, temporarily blinding Ellie and the robots, J'nol phased us through the floor. Alfred hit the door of the apartment first, ripping off it's hinges, and sending it flying across the hall. I could hear the Knights attacking the floor of our aparment and ripping the ceiling apart. We hit the elevators just as they broke into the hall. I spun, and threw my mace up, deflecting a blast of heat vision into the roof, bringing it down just long enough to give us few seconds. We dropped into the shaft. There wasn't room to spread my wings, but I didn't need to. As I landed, the boys were already there to catch me. Energy lashed down the shaft, and blew chunks out of the floor. Ace leaned back and launched a column of flame upwards. J'nol was already ahead of us, opening a sewer access. We slipped into it, even though I had to fold my wings to fit. He closed it behind us, and phased through after us. Once into the sewers, we thought we were safe. Turns out we were wrong.

"I can still feel you!" Ellie called at the access. Energy flashed out, and the grate cover exploded. The tunnels were too narrow for the Knights, so she ordered them back and to cover every exit from the sewers. Now it was a race against time. Songbird held back for a moment inhaling.

"It's at killing range!" I screamed, but it was too late. The blast wave ripped apart the sides and supports of the tunnel, and I could feel the building above shaking. She stopped just as the roof of the tunnel collapsed. We turned and ran, as I fervently hoped the people above us were able to get out safely. The first exit from the sewers was a manhole cover, but J'nol phased through it, and found a pair of Knights and a dozen sentinels guarding it. "Annia, we'll keep going along this line, you look for an exit." Annia nodded, and zipped away, as we headed down the tunnel. I heard the breakthrough first, and pushed the others along.

"We cannot run forever!" Ace snapped as we moved.

"But we can't fight her in such close quarters." I snarled back. Annia reappeared.

"Most of them are blocked, but up ahead there's a massive junction that leads to the sea. That exit is under water, and is blocked by some sharks, but there's room to move in the junction." Annia reported.

"Then we can make a stand there. What do you think?" I asked.

"Go for it." Was the unanimous response. We swept into the room that might have, had it not been a sewer junction, served as a round house for railway locomotives, with room to spare, and two dozen entrances.

We arranged around the room, all facing out, since it wasn't possible to tell which way she was coming from. She did however, take the shortest route into the room, so I had the first clear shot. My mace, and her fist both slammed into our targets at the same moment, but each of our protective forcefields slammed up, blocking most of the force. With our attacks halted, we both fell back, but I had one advantage. I wasn't alone. Alfred crashed into Ellie again, this time from the side, so that she had to turn to face him. As before, his fist had no effect, but J'nol smashing into her from behind did. She splashed into the water, and then broke the surface again. Heatvision swept across the platform in the center, but arrows exploded in her face, blinding her so that she couldn't see. The twins reached out, and closed hands together, free hands coming up. A six pointed star flickered to life before them, two rings wrapping it and rotating slowly. Energy began to gather in front of it, as symbols appeared in the middle of the rings and the center of the star. Some rotated clockwise, some counter clockwise. Songbird fired two more arrows into the cloud, each of them exploding in a brilliant blue flash of light. Ellie charged from the cloud aiming for Songbird, unknowing that she had fired over the interlocked hands of the twins. Ellie charged straight into the spell as it unleashed it's potential energy.

The spell was fully autonomous once it finished and fired, which was good, as it's back blast chunked the twins and Songbird against the far wall. It was not so much an energy strike, as it was a massive, continuous beam of energy. Ellie was thrown against the opposite wall, and the spell held her. I grabbed Alfred, and J'noll picked up Songbird, as Annia led us to the nearest above water exit. Alfred led the charge, breaking through the manhole cover and destroying the two Death Knights positioned there by smashing them together. Rebecca weakly cloaked us in magic, and it lasted just until we reached the office building. The guard let us in without hesitation and the CEO was waiting in the basement.

"Are you alright?" He asked concernedly, as we half-collapsed to the floor. Inza had once explained that the twins had the power to equalize the energy of those around them, so that everyone would be equally tired or rested. When they grew more tired, the field that produced the effect would drain energy to keep them in balance, or as it was now, to keep them alive.

"Fine, we just need to rest for a time." I answered for the group.

"Good, I have news for you, that you might not like." He replied. I stared at him, considering a protest, but deciding against it. "Lord Akati's floating fortress arrives in the harbor tonight. We are planning a raid on the fortress when it arrives."

"We?" I asked, slightly confused. The walls seemed to bleed people, as each person detatched from the wall, and disengaged his camoflague.

"The New York resistance cell." The CEO replied. "I let you think I was brainwashed, but my man behind the mirror kept me safe from the tampering, as he does all our employee's. Very nice to meet you. I assume your father was Batman?" He asked Alfred, extending a hand. Alfred shook it warily. The other man chuckled.

"Must have been. My father described your's quite well, if a touch unflatteringly." The man laughed. "Robert Tracy Carter." He offered me his hand. "You must be one of Lantern's children."

"Aisha." I replied, shaking his hand. "You're Booster's son?"

"Yup. I built this company with some of the technology he... ahem, boosted, in the future." The man grinned. "So, we're going after Akati. I assume you're here to do the same?"

"Sort of." I replied. "But first, let's have some introductions." He laughed and I relaxed a little, though I was still wary for Ellie. She wasn't dead, that much I knew, but she was probably hurting, and that was to our advantage, even if we'd lost the element of surprise.

* * *

"Master, I have failed again." Ellie reported. Akati laughed. Even having sworn fealty to him Ellie hated his laugh, but she wouldn't say anything.

"Do not worry so child, I will deal with them when they attack me." Akati answered her concerns. "You will come to join me on my fortress at three o'clock this afternoon. They will try to attack tonight when I dock. We will be ready for them. Until then, I like the blue dress best." He finished. "And bring the two Knights."

"Yes Master." The screen flickered out. There was no mistaking his intentions. The blue dress he'd given her was stained with blood, some of it her own, some of it those of her victims. There were only two reasons he made her wear it, and killing those who would resist him was one of those reasons. The other was too horrible to think about. As for the two Knights, she knew which ones he meant. The one who had killed Green Arrow, and the on that had caused Kara Kent's accident. She did not want to know how he knew that they were going to attack him. The dress she wanted was in a small silver engraved box in the dresser, the inside of it sheeted with cedar panels to block out the smell. She waved the two men out of her room. They bowed and left. She'd had them tagged so that they could not leave the apartments she had at the top of the Hilton without being killed, so that she would not be revealed to have an exploitable weakness. Laying the blue dress across the dresser, she stepped to an intercom in the wall.

"Sentinel. Send for Death Knight 14, and 47. They are to meet me at the helipad a top the building. Send my carriage to the pad as well."

"Yes, mistress." The Sentinel responded. She released the intercom, and took a deep breath, before sitting on the bed. Two hours to three o'clock. Time enough for some fun. She called the two men back in.


	9. The Assault

oneredneckgoddess: Don't worry, I explain that later on. And the tech is simple enough. The employee's simply use it as a basis for their work, and progress very rapidly, instead of the slower progress without it.

WWLAOS: Thank you, I thought it was pretty cool. As for the route, I had to get them into the sewers, and diving out the window and through a manhole cover would have been cool, but would have killed Songbird at least. The resistance was a surprise to me as well.

* * *

"Akati's fortress is well built, and it moors only for embarking and disembarking, and then only for short times. Cargo is stored on ships that trail the fortress, and is brought across fresh with choppers." Robert pointed at the map. "Whenever he stops, it's always closer to the re-education facility." He touched a place near the island Ace had visited. "The water is always patrolled by his robotic sharks, but we can cloak our submarine from them. Can you get us in? We had simply planned to sink the fortress with Akati on it, but if we can get to him, and be able to display his body, or even him..." I nodded and glanced at the twins.

"Al, J'nol, and I might be able to break down the gate, but if we can't, have you got any tricks to take it down?" I asked.

"Sure, not alone," Ace started.

"But together we got," Rebecca continued.

"Dad's Gatebuster." They finished together.

"Don't do that. Please?" Annia asked.

"Sorry." They answered as one. I turned to Robert, desperate to pull the conversation away from them.

"Alright, we can help you get in, but we have got to find Zatanna. We think Fate has her prisoner on the fortress with him." I commented.

"What do you need her for?" Robert asked. I glanced at the others, who all, including Songbird nodded.

"To stop Akati forever, and from ever taking over the world, and destroying our parents." I informed him, and then gave him the full story. As I finished, he dropped into a chair.

"That's, crazy. It's..." He shook his head. "Impossible within the laws of physics."

"But magic operates by bending or breaking the laws of physics." Ace commented.

"Besides four of the people in this room can fly, and my brother and I can do magic. Impossibilty is a bit of a stretch for us." Rebecca added.

"Right." Robert nodded slowly, and swallowed. "Then it's settled, tonight we kill a snake, by cutting it's head off."

* * *

The sub was, as subs usually are, cramped. Even with J'nol changing his shape into something that took up less space in the middle, there was only barely enough room for the people in it. Part of the problem was the cloaking device in the middle of the room taking up most of the space in the main room of the sub. The gentle bump as the sub slipped from it's mooring was magnified several times because of the sheer number of people in it. As we approached the island, Robert flicked on the cloaking device, and the room began to get very hot, very fast. The internal dock of the fortress was unguarded, a strange condition for it to be in I thought, as cautious as Akati was in everything else. Of course the fact that he had deadly robotic sharks patrolling the waters around his fortress might have had something to do with it. J'nol exited the sub first, staying phased until he'd disabled the camera's and then signalled us. The three of us hit the doors in unison, and they crumpled under the attack, then fell inwards on the next. The resistance fighters moved ahead, and we followed, sweeping right around a corner, and into the middle of a group of sentinels. Gunfire erupted as the two forces fired at each other, the body armor the fighters wore doing little to stop the rounds of the larger robots. Grenades bounced along the floor, and exploded taking down the robots with them. Once more we advanced, and I took the lead, with Alfred and Songbird beside me. The latter had her bow up, and almost drawn, an arrow already knocked. Alfred had his hands clenched and I recognized that he was going to attack what ever showed up next.

As we turned a corner left, I mentally swore, and heard Annia and Songbird do so out loud. Standing before a set of doors, were twenty massive sentinels, these almost seven feet, a full foot taller than the normal one's. In black and red paint, they had to be Akati's personal guards. In front of them stood two Death Knights. Songbird was swearing at the one on the left, the silver scarred one that had killed her father. On the left, was one that had scarring of a different kind. Two long lines running parrellel up the center of it's chest. They were heat vision scars, and there was no mistaking them.

"What is that?" I heard Ace and Rebecca ask. Ellie answered. In a long flowing ball gown, she was floating above the two robots. She touched gently, and almost lady like, down before them. She patted the left robot.

"This is brave robot that destroyed that evil, nasty Green Arrow." I saw Rianne's knuckles go white. "And this one." She patted the right hand robot on it's shoulder. "It finished off the silly little girl who tried to be Superman's side kick." There wasn't time to react as Ace and Rebecca opened fire. It wasn't so much magic as it was simply a massive hail of energy blasts. I saw Ellie thrown back through the Sentinels, and then the fire shifted to the Death Knight on the right. A few seconds later an explosion from the robot knocked the other into the wall, but Songbird had already loosed her arrow and was firing another as it impacted. An explosion from it left it's scythe blade imbedded in the wall above my head.

As I charged ahead, I saw J'nol and Alfred just behind me, and knew Ace and Rebecca were back behind me. I caught Ellie in the stomach as she swept out of the smoke of the explosions, mace discharging into her. I felt Annia bullet past me, and could see arrows arcing over head. Explosions to numerous to count occured all around us as I swung at Ellie. Heat vision bounced off the mace, time and again, as she tried to fight me off, but she'd made me mad, and I didn't like being mad. An energy bolt slammed into me, but my shield flickered up, and blocked it. The mace flashed, and she threw up a shield of her own but it was too small, as I pulled away from the mace strike, and swung into a hard kick into her chest. She grunted in pain, and fell back.

"For my father!" Songbird was there beside me, and then ahead of me, face to face with Ellie. I saw her inhale, and I screamed.

"DOWN!" Everyone, except Ellie and the Sentinel's listened to me. Ace and Rebecca appearently saw what was coming because I felt a shield flare over the top of us as we fell flat. The scream resonated through the fortress, and I thought it was going to come down ontop of us. It didn't though, and the shield protected us from the killing reverberations of the violent sound. A few moments after it died away, we couldn't hear anything, then it all came back at one time. Songbird stood stock still, hands still locked around Ellie's forearms, the still twitching super clone's ruined body in her arms. The head was completely gone, and her chest had exploded inwards at some point and probably at the same time, her stomach had blown open. Rianne was covered in blood, and shaking mightly. Alfred reached her first, and caught her as she fell.

"Is she still alive?" Robert asked.

"Yes. She's alive, but she's somewhat out of it." J'nol answered. His eyes were glowing and he had a hand on her forehead. "Wait, she's waking."

"Did I get her?" Was the first thing she asked. I nodded.

"Yes, you got her." I answered smiling slightly.

"Good." She answered, and pulled herself up using Alfred as a crutch.

"Do you need to go back to the sub?" Robert asked concerned. She shook her head, with a half-laugh.

"Hell no, I've come this far, I'm not about to go back now." She grunted, trying to stand on her own. She didn't make it and Alfred kept her from falling.

"Alright, let's go then." I asserted, and we moved forwards. The doors before us were much larger and heavier than the others but the three of us hit them, Annia taking Songbird. The doors didn't budge.

"Then we'll get it." The twins called moving forwards. Hands interlocked together, they lifted their free arms, and began to hum. Not from gathering energy, but instead it seemed to be part of the spell. The air suddenly was awash with symbols, and there was nothing recognizable as they began to speak. A dozen concentric rings appeared on the door, and then four lines struck through them forming an X and a cross. Then it began to glow, and the symbols coalesced into a single one. I realized what it was just before the attack unleashed itself. The greek letter, Omega. The wave of silver energy crashed into the doors, and true to it's named, busted the doors. Not off their hinges, but at a molecular level, spreading a fine iron dust across the room inside. We poured in, the seven of us, and the dozen or so remaining resistance fighters. I saw the only two people in the room the instant we entered it. Sitting on a throne of plated gold, sat Akati, leaning back, everythign but his boots, which were plated with a metal I only vaguely remembered. To his right, and my left, knelt the objective I'd sought for all this time. Zatanna. She was chained to the floor, and muzzled, as well as being blind folded. Gray hair fell in loose folds over her shoulders as she stared at us through the blindfold. Her clothes were worn and tattered, and she seemed to be entirely disheartened. Akati's voice drew my gaze back to him.

"Bravo." Deep and gravely, his voice was not at all pleasant. "It appears that you are a far more worthy challenge than your predecessors."

"Predecessors?" I shook my head. Annia stepped forwards beside me.

"He means our parents." She smiled. "He's so powerful that he must have met them."

"The child is smart. Excellent deduction. I see you are definitely smarter than your parents." There was a gravely grate of laughter. "Yes, I faced your parents in combat, and unfortunately, I lost. This time, I shall not fail." His hands, coated in steel, and looking very flexible, slammed together. A wave of energy, though which kind I couldn't tell you, lashed out against us, and threw most of us against the walls. Some of the resistance fighters were thrown out the doorway. The doors reformed themselves as though they hadn't been destroyed.

"Now that we have privacy, I can kill you in..." Gunfire from the resistance fighters, as well as Robert cut him off, as the rounds pinged off his armor. I saw the energy beams heat up from his eyes, but they were too far ahead for me to stop as they cut through the men and women advancing on him. All twelve of them dropped dead painlessly, guns skidding away. Annia moved next, too fast for him to blast, but not too fast for a clothesline to catch across his arm. I glanced at the twins.

"Free Zatanna, we'll take Akati." With the nod of reply, I lunged into action. The mace smashed against the massive Iron chest plate, and I heard a scream of pain inside the suit of armor as the energy charge was transferred within. I didn't see the massive left gauntlet slam into me, though whether it was a convulsion, or deliberate attack, I'll probably never know. I tumbled across the floor, flipping up just in time to see Alfred slam into Akati, and go skidding to the floor, taking the megalomaniac with him. Arrows from Songbird hit him as Alfred flipped away, and then Annia was up again, working at the buckles of the monsters armor. It didn't matter, because at that moment, space warped, as the twins joined Zatanna in a spell. I recognized none of the words, but I knew what was about to occur. Someone was going to have to die. Then everything went white.


	10. Meetings and Greetings

oneredneckgoddess: Wait no longer. It's a talent that doesn't always avail me, being able to cut into perfect cliff hangers like that.

WWLAOS: I couldn't resist it. I did mean Akati. And the floating fortress is a boat, and a fairly small hole, will sink a fairly large boat. They were going to bring an explosive on board, and punch a large hole in the hull. You're right, I should expand that. I'll also fix those sentences.

In any case, Akati is three things. Very patient, and can wait for them to tire out. Inexhaustable, so can still fight even after they've dropped from exhaustion. Virtually invincible, so they can't really do any appreciable damage.

This is the next to last chapter. Enjoy.

* * *

Pain is, at it's basic level, an abstract. Unfortunately, it's not experienced at that level. At the level where we experience it, it hurts like hell, because... Well it's pain, what more explanation is required? I seemed to ache from wing tip to wing tip, and from the top of my head, to the soles of my feet. Opening my eyes wasn't a fun prospect because, as far as I could tell, my eyelids hurt. I did so anyway, wanting to see what was infront of me. It turned to be a hand, but it wasn't one I recognized. A silver ring wrapped it's third finger, and it was slightly calloused, but soft at the same time. I reached up and took it, slowly, as the pain was still enormous, even if it was receeding to a dull ache. As soon as I took the pro offered hand, I felt much better, and the pain drained away. Reasoning that there was an arm connected to that hand, I scanned up the back of it finding first a wrist, then to no surprise, an arm. Farther up, the arm was infact attached to a shoulder, which was part of a full size person. I instantly recognized him from a photo in Fate's tower.

"Adam?" I exclaimed. The brown haired man smiled slightly, and looked across at the twins, who were beaming.

"She's a really bright one, isn't she?" He chuckled, and I almost flushed, then started to get indignant, and realized I was laughing as well. "Yes, that's me." He answered my question, helping me to my feet.

"I thought you were dead? So that means it worked?" He stared a moment at me. "The spell?"

"Oh, yes." He nodded calmly, releasing my hand. "I would hope so, otherwise Zatanna had no idea what she's talking about."

"So, did we win?" I asked. He smiled.

"It's not quite that easy. See, even if you fought with everything you had then, you couldn't defeat Akati. He's simply too powerful. You have to stop Akati from ever being. That's why the spell brought you here and now." He pointed behind him and I saw a long black rod floating in the air, though there was no visible means of support. That meant magic. "You still have to keep your opponent from reaching the weapon. No, I don't know who it is, before you ask. And I cannot interfere, because I am here as an entirely neutral observer. You must do it on your own." He stepped back, and looked at us all. "Good luck."

I coughed lightly, and the twins turned to me, nodding and smiling slightly, then we arranged around the rod. The mental commands started instantly. :Join me.: Came a soft voice in the back of my head. The other's must have heard it as well, because they replied.

"No." Came an almost simultaneous response.

:I will give you power beyond all imagining.: It cooed to me, enticingly.

"No."

:I can restore those you loved to you.: That was truly tempting, but...

"No." It was then that our opponent entered the scene. I felt her long before she was in sight, but the others seemed to sense her as well, or they saw I was preparing for a fight, and took the cue. Either way, we were very surprised when Galatea appeared before us.

"What are you doing here?" She snapped, pulling herself up and glaring at us.

"Simple." I answered, not leaving my defensive stance. "We're here to stop you, and kill you. And not by necessity, in that order." I charged, and knew I was already being backed up. Galatea groaned as the energy mace hit her, but she didn't falter as I expected. Instead she grabbed the shaft of the mace, and threw me. I'm not sure how I was able to hit anything when there wasn't anything there, but I landed, some thirty feet away, and I could feel something in my wing give. The pain was tremendous, and I knew I was out of the fighting. J'nol crashed into Galatea, and they went tumbling to the floor. She came out on the bottom, and flipped him into the air. She rolled and lunged up, just in time for Alfred to crash a blow across her jaw, that sent her reeling. She hit the ground again, and lunged up, in time for another impact to the face. She dropped, and fired a heat blast low at him.

He flipped into the air, and landed on his hands, but she was already sweeping her leg around in anticipation, and knocked his hands from under him. Galatea gathered her feet under her and lunged up, then down, looking for a killing blow, but the Twins caught her by surprise. A dozen blades of air, created with magical edges, sliced along her arms and torso, sending her sprawling. That was Rebecca's signature move. The massive fist of air that caught her as she started to fall was Ace's. Galatea was thrown into the air, and the twins joined together and slammed her down. She hit hard, and looked up, heatvision firing, and catching both of them in the leg, sending them to the ground. Two arrows arced in, and light blared as they exploded, shockwaves sending Galatea rolling, as Annia zipped in to help me up, and clear of the fight. J'nol was back in the fight now, shifting into the form of a huge snake. Galatea was having difficulty hitting J'nol in that form, but she finally caught him, sending him falling away. She saw that the way was almost clear and lunged for the lance. I started to draw back and throw, but Alfred was already there.

I don't know where it came from. It wasn't supposed to exist any more. He should not have had it. He did so anyway. Red Kryptonite glowed in his left hand, and green in his right. Galatea fell back, and dropped to the floor. Alfred started to advance at the same instant I shouted a warning. She hit him hard, knocking the green kryptonite out of his hand. She had been faking. The two different forms of the kryptonite were counter acting each other. With the green farther away, the red took command and sent her to her knees for real this time. She groaned in pain.

"Finish... her." Alfred called, gasping after the hit she had delivered. I started to act, but Annia was there first. The knife in her hand sliced Galatea's throat open to the bone, and the blonde woman dropped the ground, without so much as a sound. The kryptonite's winked out, as Alfred put them away.

:This is not over.: I heard the long rod call again, now knowing what the voice was, and saw it vanish. Adam approached us again, clapping softly.

"Congratulations. You did it. I knew you would." He smiled at us all, and set himself to work. I started to jerk away as he laid his hands on my wing, but as much pain as there was, it started to fade away as he let his hands slide across it.

"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" I asked suddenly. He nodded solemnly. "Why didn't you stop it?" I snapped.

"I tried, and I failed. They were too much alike. Kara, and Galatea, and Ellie. I was killed at one point, and I made a final attack. It was supposed to kill Galatea, and Ellie, and leave Kara alone, but the magic couldn't tell them apart, and let them live." Adam explained. "By the time I realized what was wrong, I couldn't do anything about it without difficulties. You were the alternate choice. I knew if I failed, you would take up the fight. I knew that four hundred thousand years ago." He smiled slightly, and patted my now fully healed wing. "What I didn't know until five years or so ago, was if you could win. When I met your parents, I knew you would succeed, if I did not."

"Something isn't right." Alfred shook his head. "We were told that one of us would die, and never see the past, and that one of us wouldn't exist. We're all here, it can't be finished, can it?"

"There's the hat trick my friend." Adam smiled, laying his hands on Ace's leg. "Robert was the one mentioned in all three of those tiny little foot notes. It's why I named 'my children, and the successors to the legacy of the Justice League'. I didn't mention you guys by name. Robert was a successor to the legacy, because as much as the Bat and others might not like it, Booster was a member of the League. As for not existing, see, Booster was killed on the tower, before he found out Tracy was pregnant again. She had already had a daughter, and Robert was born after the attack. The trick to why he won't exist, is because he was named after Tracy's father. Booster was always partial to the name Joesph." There was a grin on his face.

"What about Galatea and Ellie?" Ace asked, as he stood, and Adam moved to Rebecca. "And Akati."

"Galatea is now dead in both timelines. Akati was Galatea, but now that she's dead, when you return, Akati will fall over dead. See, in exchange for power, Galatea gave up the power to give life. She became a man. Akati was virtually invincible. Immune to kryptonite of all colors, and without the peculiar weakness to magic that plagues kryptonians. Zatanna was his only weakness, because she could see who and what he really was. He couldn't kill her, because then he would loose the ties to his past as Galatea, but he couldn't let her go, because she would incite a revolution." He answered. "As for Ellie. In your timeline, she is dead, but in mine, she will live to old age. Whether she does it for good, or for ill, I don't know. It's her choice. All I have forseen is that she will die of old age."

"You keep referring to our timeline." Annia commented. "What are you talking about?"

"The defeat of the lance corrected our timeline, but you accomplished too much to be simply written off into history. You are in the Archives, so your world is considered a valid timeline. The correction is going to split you off into your own future. You share our past, but your future is your own to decide." He answered her question.

"What about Inza? Is there anything that could have been done?" Rebecca asked.

"She's not dead." He addressed her concern. "She did that to her tower, to make you go. She knew that you would turn and run when the going got tough if you thought you could run back to her to safety. It was all one big illusion."

Adam looked off to oneside, and I followed his gaze. I could see an energy wall approaching. "Looks like we're almost out of time. About a minute left. There's just one thing left to tell you all. Ace. Rebecca. I am proud of you. All of you. You acted as you had to, even if you didn't think that you could do so in the beginning. You upheld the legacy, and promise of the Justice League with honor that few other's could have managed. Though they aren't here, your parents will know this story, and everything that happened here. And though they haven't said it just yet, I know for a fact, that they are proud of you as well. I'm almost out of time, so I have one last thing for you. In deep lunar orbit, there is a second Watchtower. It was built after the destruction of the first tower in the Thangarian invasion. It's the older model, just right for seven people, but it shouldn't sit there like it lies, collecting dust."

"How do we reach it?" I asked him as the wall approached.

"Use your power. You are a child of the Green Lantern of earth. Rise to the challenge, and your power will protect you." He called as the wave approached. "Fare you well, Justice League." The wave swept across my vision, and everything went white.


	11. Epilogue

oneredneckgoddess: Here it is, the last chapter.

KissingRain: Thank you much.

WWLAOS: Adam is a rather take it or leave it character. I admit, he can be over bearing, as he was through the MI incidents, and my KP stories. That was a pretty bad kill, but I couldn't come up with anything better.

What can I say, I have a soft spot for my characters. I put an awful lot of effort into creating new characters, and can't kill them off with any ease. So far, I've only ever killed off two characters permanently. Adam knew everything before hand, but he'd missed his chance to kill Galatea. After she became Akati, he couldn't reveal who she was, without the chance of them joining her. As mentioned in the chapter, Alfred wasn't supposed to have kryptonite. It should have been destroyed before hand. The tower thing came to me at the last second.

Read through my HP story, it's the same kind of thing. I can't kill anyone off, it's a mental blockade.

* * *

"I don't believe it." Ace knelt beside Akati's dead form. Galatea lay inside, blond hair spilling from the helm.

"It was as it should have been." Zatanna coughed, still working off the muscle problems associated with her erstwhile position. "And now the power that was Akati is gone from the world. I feel almost giddy, but more importantly, alive."

The door slid open, as Rebecca fiddled with the controls on the arm of the throne. The remaining members of the resistance charged into the room, some of them becoming ill at the scene of bodies before them. I knew how they felt, it was almost too much for me to bear. Almost. I turned to the resistance members, spreading my wings to get their attention.

"Akati, is dead." That was all I needed to say. I said it one more time, four hours later, after the world had been reconnected, Akati's fortress having served as a control tower, all programming run through it, and television was restored. That phrase was heard from my lips, around the world.

* * *

"Our, children?" Hawkgirl asked. We were sat in a circle around the main table of the league. There weren't quite enough chairs, so I was standing, but for some reason I didn't mind at all. I had procured from the Vadelus Archives, copies of the records of the War of Light, as it was so named by the bard who recorded it.

"From an alternate future timeline?" Lantern added skeptically. I returned to him one of the flat, level looks reserved for non-magic users.

"You glow green and fly." I replied calmly. "Besides, you've had your share of time travel experiences."

"I see your point." Lantern nodded. "Though, I'd love to know how you got these accounts."

"That's for me to know, and you not to worry about." I answered cryptically. Kara knew, but I knew she wouldn't say anything. Diana sighed quietly.

"So you're telling me, that our children did this? They carried our legacy forwards?" I nodded. No one made any further comments. There wasn't need to. I could tell, even without being Empathic as I was at that particular place and time, that my words to the children had been correct. Their parents were proud.

I love being right.

* * *

Final Entry in the Journal. It's not because I'm about to die, or anything so silly as that, but that I'm about to start a new one. The battles we faced, and the trials of living up to a legacy were hard. Some not as hard as what our parents must have faced, but they were difficult for us. Now that we have given freedom back to the world, the less desirable aspects of humanity have returned as well, as they must always do. But that is a small price to pay for freedom. And now, with the return, humanity can be safe in it's knowledge, that the Justice League will do as it has always done. Protect that freedom from those who would do away with it, and at the same time, protect the lives of the citizens of earth, without preference to color, race, or creed. I end this entry with words that though they were spoken by a fictional person, ring true. 'There is no fate, but that which we make for ourselves.'

Aisha Stewart, Keeper of the Light, July 4, 1 ARJL. (After the Return of the Justice League)


End file.
